MSNBC Analyst Ties Trump Cuts to Race: It’s an ‘Attack’ On ‘Government That Used To Be Headed By a Black Man’

MSNBC political analyst Basil Smikle tied race into his argument against President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to the federal government.

On Wednesday’s Deadline: White House, Smikle argued there are less “hostile” ways of finding things to cut in the federal government, like taking advantage of natural “attrition” and having folks willingly leave their posts. Trump has made major cuts to the federal workforce, relying on cuts recommended by Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency).

Smikle claimed the major cuts coming out of Trump’s administration are an “attack on this government that used to be headed by a Black man” and “almost elected a Black woman,” referring to former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Smikle argued:

It’s an attack on this government. What I mean by that is it’s an attack on this government that used to be headed by a Black man.  It’s an attack on this government that almost elected a Black woman to the highest office in the land.

It’s an attack on a government that has been more welcoming and more supportive of people who have come to this country in search for a better life. So it’s, yes, it’s an attack on government, but it’s also a hostile takeover. That’s what people feel. This is hostility directed toward a very large swath of the country. And that’s going to sweep up everybody. It is indiscriminate.

The political analyst then referenced an NBC panel consisting of recently-fired federal workers, all of whom were reacting to Trump’s address to Congress. Smikle, a professor at Columbia University, argued Trump and his administration are cutting off opportunity for young people. He added:

So one of the folks in your focus group talked about pipeline. If I’m working with students right now, what am I supposed to tell them about the jobs that they can get, whether they’re going into public policy or whether they’re going into nonprofit space? And I shouldn’t probably say that out loud because it’s against my interest, but I have to have these real conversations with students about what their future is going to look like.

So it’s not just about what’s happening to people in this country today. He is destroying an entire pipeline of workers interested public service, also of people who will benefit of the service that he is cutting completely out of our ecosystem.

Watch above via MSNBC.